The joy of a wandering mind

A few months ago, my sister sent me this book in the post. It wasn't my birthday, there was no milestone to celebrate. Just because she wanted to (I think I needed cheering up as I was grumpy about something). My goodness, I don't deserve her.

Concisely, there are 52 prompts to encourage you to write a list of something each week. For example "List everything you feel passionate about". Then it might give you a suggestion for how you can incorporate these things into your life. My on-going issues to commit to anything means I do it quite sporadically; forget for a couple of weeks. Go in hard when I do.

It's been a joy to do this and what I really like most about it, is that it's reminded my brain to reflect about things I used to organically ask myself. Before life took over and my thoughts became focused on immediate issues and concerns. I forgot to think big because I've gotta think about the bills.

I'm also a big advocate of journalling but in recent times, I've noticed that I write in it less and less. Not because I've forgotten to; I actually think about wanting to write in it a lot but because I don't know what I would write if I sat down. Once upon a time my stream of consciousness was such that I would put pen to paper and 6 pages afterwards only covered one topic in my mind. Now it's shrivelled; it's stopped being poetic. It kind of stopped being curious. It's also explaining why it's been so long since I've written on here.

Why is important to let your mind drift, to let it slowly and almost lazily explore the crevices of your mind? Because it's inspiration and - more fundamentally - your soul's compass. I'm not talking about mulling over some bullshit scenario or conversation 4 years ago that you keep replaying in your mind. I'm talking about the big stuff. Your existence. Your purpose. What is most important and true to you. When you think big, you give less credit for the small nonsense in your life (which had annoyingly become something enormous in your life) which can only be a good thing.

Before this post I am eventually writing, I had written about 4 near complete drafts. There was a misty cloud fogging up and I couldn't see the idea; I'd throw my hands out but struggled to grope the curves of it. Each time I wrote something, it pushed me into a new area. I'd go explore, then come wandering back wearied and said "not here. Try again". Eventually through more open minded thinking, along with a slight aggressive pressure on myself to get there, I grabbed hold.

So the book is my matter-of-fact life coach. To goad me (which I don't think was their intention but it works like that). To push me. It was the springboard for me writing this post now and make it more than just a review of how great the book is (which it is). I think the book succeeded in what it set out to do.

So to my sister and this book; thank you for giving my mind new found oxygen to thrive.

What prompts do you have to think about the bigger questions?